The Picnic
by Populaire7
Summary: Nadir surprises Christine to a Valentine's date (College AU)


"Nadir, where are we going?" Christine giggled as her boyfriend led her inside the campus' astronomy department. He had been acting strange all day.

"Do you know what day it is today?" Nadir asked.

"February 14?"

"What else?

"What do you mean 'what-' Oh. You mean Valentine's Day."

"Of course I mean Valentine's Day!" Nadir kissed her nose sweetly.

"Nadir, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

"I know, but Christine. Any excuse to show you I love you, I'm going to take advantage of it."

Christine was secretly grateful for Nadir's efforts. Her students, lovely as they were, were beginning to burn her out. She supposed Nadir was feeling the same, with midterms and everything.

"Alright. What do you have planned?" Christine asked coyly.

"Ah ah ah! I'm not going to ruin the surprise." Her Nadir was clever.

Nadir led her to the planetarium. He switched on the lights and Christine gasped at the display. The rows of chairs were decorated with roses and twinkling lights. In the front row, Nadir had set up a little picnic.

"Nadir! I can't believe it." She let go of her lover's hand and buried her face in his broad chest. The cologne he was wearing was her favorite smell. _He really went all out, didn't he?_ Nadir kissed her forehead and she looked up into his chocolate brown eyes. Those eyes were home.

"Are you hungry?" Nadir asked softly.

"I'm absolutely starving," Christine grinned in reply.

"Good." Nadir gave her a peck on the lips. "I got your favorites."

Nadir led Christine to the seats. The planetarium was where they had gone on their first date. No one would expect a history and a music professor to enjoy astronomy so much, but here they were.

"Nadir, how in the world did you manage all of this?"

"Well, I may have convinced Dean Giry to give me the space for a few hours."

Christine popped a strawberry in her mouth. "Wait, Giry? What did you have to do, buy her wine?"

"You have _no_ idea." Dean Giry was tough as nails, but a few bottles of anything French or Italian sounding, and she was a sloppy mess.

Nadir really had gotten Christine her favorite foods. He was the best thing that had happened to her.

"So I, I was able to get the astronomy students to program a special show."

"Really?" Christine twirled a golden curl around her index finger.

"I think you'll really love it. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll go turn it on." He kissed her hand and got up to go to the projector room.

Nadir was always a hopeless romantic, but Christine could not figure out what he was up to. The projector whirred to life and the ceiling lit up with stars. Nadir came back to his seat.

"You comfortable?"

"Mhmm." Nadir put his arm around Christine and she rested her head on his shoulder and they watched the show.

Soon, Christine's worries about grading and her life melted away. She wasn't sure what it was about him, but Nadir was like a life-size stress reliever.

"You know you're amazing, right?" Christine lifted her head to look at Nadir.

"I suppose so. Oh, Christine look! The best part is about to come." Christine looked back at the domed ceiling to see a brilliant meteor shower. She gasped a little at the brilliance of it all. Other than being digital, these were no ordinary meteors.

The meteors were coming from all directions and settling in one spot of the "sky." It was hard to notice at first, but the meteors were forming letters. Christine began to tear up as she was able to see the message in the stars.

 _WILL YOU MARRY ME?_

"Nadir…" He got up from his seat to get down on one knee. He got a box from his inside coat pocket and pulled a ring out.

"Christine. These past three years have been the best of my life. You have been there for me through all of my baggage. I want to continue to be there for you. Christine Daaé, love of my life, will you marry me?"

"Nadir, of course I will." She leaned forward to kiss him.

They both stood and just spent a moment to kiss under the stars and take each other in. Christine thanked her lucky stars that she found her true love and that she was going to spend the rest of their lives together. Little did she know that Nadir was thinking the same thing.

Nadir was the first to break the kiss. He took her left hand and slipped the ring on her dainty finger.

The ring itself was gorgeous. It had a bold band that split into a criss-cross pattern. There was one large diamond with a smaller one on each side. It was glittering when the projector lights would hit it.

"It's a beautiful ring." Christine smiled at Nadir.

"Only the best for my star princess," Nadir jeered as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Christine blushed. He was referring to her costume from the faculty Halloween party two weeks before they started dating. The pink-and-purple costume was the most brilliant thing Nadir had ever seen. It was so different from the soft blues Christine usually wore. Meg from the English department had made sure they ended up bumping into each other that night. She was such a good matchmaker, but couldn't realize that Sorelli from Anthropology was completely head over heels for her.

"I already have an idea of where we should go on our honeymoon," Nadir said.

"Oh really?" Christine replied. "Where?"

"Well, I was thinking we can spend two weeks in Iran, and another two weeks in Sweden."

"You mean it?"

"I do, Christine. I should like to see where you grew up, and for you to see where I grew up."

"I think it's a wonderful idea." Christine hugged him as her boyfriend, no, her fiancé, lifted her in the air. She had grown to trust those strong arms. Now, she could count on them forever.

"I love you, Nadir Khan."

"And I love you, Christine Daaé-Khan."


End file.
